Authors Gary Gunderson and Larry Pray form the content of the book as an easy-to-read process of what it means to say and what entails the Leading Causes of Life. There is much more than just getting used to saying the sentence just like there is a lot more that involves being a positive deviant than just saying you are. Gunderson provides the information, his journey through establishing the Leading Causes of Life while Pray writes stories that pertain to whatever Gary is writing about in each chapter. The information from both writers compliments the other well and makes for a smoother flow of the content. Gunderson starts his book by writing “I want to talk about life, not death.” That says it all. This book is about finding out and learning about the other side of the coin. We know what the phrase leading causes of death means. It is finding that which will eventually kill us without being able to do a single thing about. It is what plagues our society, according to the authors, and shapes our way of thinking. Leading Causes of Life, makes you look at what makes life.
Gunderson provides a small chart of examples called A Difference in Perspective: Life’s View.
This is an example of that very chart which emphasizes the perspective of life and not death. It shows the reader what we commonly associate with death and flips the script to make it about life.
Death Sees Life Sees So What?
Cancer Experience of Connection, Focus Life focuses on what is
And its losses that on essential meaning, choices and left, not what is lost.
feed fear and separation actions to be made, hope for the "Patient remains
things that last a human who is still
a blessing. Life focuses
on the rest of the body
that doesn’t have
cancer and asks what it
can do.
There are elements Gunderson provides that need to work together as an “ensemble,” as he calls them. There cannot be one without the other. Four of them cannot stand on their own while one is missing. All of these elements have to be present in order to work and make something happen. These elements are Connection, Coherence, Agency, Blessing and Hope. Though some of these elements have a religion connotation, the author claims that no matter what the religion, these elements will work if the correct amount of dedication is given to each and every one of them.
Connection is “like a breath of fresh air on which our very lives depend on” (Gunderson & Pray, 2009, p. 65). This statement refers to relationships, being social and being what makes humans thrive. Gunderson and Pray present examples of what they mean with connection by acknowledging that shutting away those from the local community by having experts run the show, does not lead to connection. Connection has to come from those around the community, those who know the ins and outs of the community, in order to make it a healthy one. Gunderson also mentions how conditioned we have become to trust a professional with a name tag which automatically make those without one not reliable or trustworthy. Trusting that the community has the answers is PD. This is one of the main aspects of PD. The solutions are with the people, not outside experts as we have been conditioned to think.
Coherence is what helps us adapt and gives us the tools to manage our complex relationships that keep us alive. For PD, this part would be looking for the donkeys that are right in front of us but which we disregard as unimportant.
Agency is to act, to DO. Agency is to act towards life, to move, to chose. It means not letting oneself sink in the negative pool, but doing something to get out. Again, this word contributes to PD and the donkey factor. There is always something that can help people through; they just need to open their eyes to see it. Gunderson points this out and quotes other authors that have said some professionals undermine the agency of communities. This is PD, just with another name, Leading Causes of Life in health. The same goes for the story the authors mentioned regarding Masangane in which women from a community in South Africa chose to act instead of waiting around for experts to help with the HIV/AIDS problem among their people which as a result led to many orphaned children. They took it upon themselves to provide nurturing, food, clothing and anything else the children needed while big, important agencies kept thinking about how to even start addressing the problem.
Blessing goes from one generation to the next. Blessings are received not individually but through generations which keeps them going. “…blessing is the quality that seeks life that bridges terrible mistakes with a sense of accountability to those that come long after them” (Gunderson & Pray, 2009, p. 125). Gunderson also points out that blessing are received, but one cannot bless oneself. Blessing are received or given.
Hope is not to be confused with optimism that lacks reality. Hope for Gunderson is informed hope that is “risk-able expectation.” Hope drives people to see a future; a clear vivid picture tells us what to do, instead of waiting for it to happen. Such was the case with Pastor Diane Young and her church children. The vivid picture she had, the hope, was to see these children who were not expected to get anywhere in life, be honor students. Her hope drove her to act which is why Gunderson points these five fundamentals as an ensemble, not separate elements in which we can pick and choose which one we want to use today to impress others.
These five elements are crucial for the Leading Causes of Life. Gunderson’s guidance through it and Pray’s examples to sustain the words of Gunderson come in full circle. What is it that we have to have in order to lead life to life and not death? The answers are connection, coherence, agency, blessing, and hope. I, not being a religious person, understood the elements. Even though the book has religious connotations it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be a Methodist to understand. You can be Catholic, Protestant, Christian, Muslim, Jewish; these elements transcend religion, boundaries, and any other form of separation we have formed to keep us from each other.
Leading Causes of Life is like reading PD using different words. Giving a voice to those who are living and know what they are living for, acknowledging that there is more than one way to look at things, knowing that experts don’t always have the answers, looking for donkeys, all of these elements are in this book.
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